Smokeless tobacco and Swedish snus: issues of science, public health and ethics

被引:0
作者
Vainio, H [1 ]
Weiderpass, E [1 ]
机构
[1] Int Agcy Res Canc, Unit Chemoprevent, F-69372 Lyon, France
来源
FROM MOLECULAR TARGETS TO PUBLIC HEALTH | 2003年 / 59卷
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D O I
暂无
中图分类号
R1 [预防医学、卫生学];
学科分类号
1004 ; 120402 ;
摘要
The recent rise in smokeless tobacco use especially among the adolescents and youth in Nordic countries is cause for alarm. Smokeless tobacco has been banned since 1992 in the European Union; the only exception is Sweden where smokeless tobacco use (oral moist snuff called 'snus') has a long tradition. Smokeless tobacco is highly addictive, because of its relatively high concentrations of nicotine. Sucking smokeless tobacco products deliver nicotine direct to the bloodstream. The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded already in 1985 that smokeless tobacco of the kind commonly used in Europe and North America is carcinogenic in humans, increasing the risk of oro-pharyngeal cancers. The Swedish tobacco industry, the main producer of snus, has repeatedly questioned this evaluation. Amounts of NNK plus NNN, the most carcinogenic tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), are routinely in the range of 1-5 ppm in snus, and sometimes higher. These levels are about 1, 000 times higher than nitrosamine levels in any other products that are designed for oral use/ingestion. There is even the suggestion that smokers should be encouraged to take up oral smokeless tobacco as a less dangerous means of coping with nicotine addiction. This is an unproven and potentially dangerous approach; there are safer forms of nicotine replacement available, and the cardiovascular effects and risks of cancer at other sites (especially pancreas) have not been fully evaluated. There is no reason for lifting the ban on sales of smokeless tobacco products in countries where the habit is rare.
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页码:43 / 49
页数:7
相关论文
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